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Normal practice has the dandy roll at the side of the paper mash opposite to the wire. Watermarks made by the dandy roll should therefor be viewed from the felt side of the paper. Philatelic tradition has it that watermarks are to be viewed from the face of the stamp. Sticking to that tradition is fine as long as you realise - and after what I said above you should - that you will not necessarily view the watermark as it is meant to be. The technic of detecting wire-markings makes it possible to discern several types of stamp-paper in periods when watermarks play no role whatsoever. For instance in all Israel stamps after 1962! With some effort it will always be possible to establish the wire-markings, their texture and place [gum or face side]. Only after having done so the place of the watermark will be known. |
When you describe the wire-marking having established it's place [be it at the gum side or the face of the stamp] it is practical to combine it with the description of the watermark at hand. In doing so a watermark facing left as viewed from the wire side implies that the watermark was intended to face right! Accepting the wire-marking side to be the gummed side as the normal place, the alternative should be referred to in a special way:
On just looking through the papers IVb and 'IVd will give exactly the same appearance. |
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Practicing above technics on Israel stamps with the Stag watermarks resulted in a nice surprise! [At least] two dandy rolls had been used, which means that two different [regardless of position] watermarks Stag can be found on Israel stamps: |
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